How to Draw Barbie
Use the video and step-by-step drawing instructions below to learn how to draw Barbie. A new drawing tutorial is uploaded every week, so stay tooned!
Intro: Start off with a pencil sketch. In the beginning stages, don’t press down too hard. Use light, smooth strokes for sketching.
Step 1: Start by drawing a circle near the top of the page. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just a guide for the top part Barbie's head.
Step 2: Draw a line similar to the letter U under the circle as a guide for Barbie's jaw and chin. These two combined shapes make the guide for Barbie's whole head.
Step 3: Next, draw two intersecting lines across the entire head, one vertical and one horizontal. The horizontal line should be close to the bottom edge of the first circle. These will be construction lines that will help you place Barbie's facial features later on.
Step 4: Draw two small shapes that kind of look like little footballs as guides for Barbie's eyes. Draw them sitting on top of the horizontal construction line and on either side of the vertical construction line.
Step 5: Right under the main circle and within the shape of the chin and jaw, draw a small shape as a guide for Barbie's mouth. The shape should be similar to the letter D on its side.
Step 6: On either side of the head, draw a curved line as a guide for the ears. The ears should be tall, but they shouldn't come out too much, otherwise Barbie will end up with big ears.
Step 7: Under Barbie's head, draw two lines as guides for the neck. Curve the lines out a bit to represent the top part of her shoulders too.
Step 8: Now draw a long line on top of the head as a guide for Barbie's hair. The line should start on top of one shoulder, move up, curve over the head and end on the opposite shoulder. The end result should look like a giant letter U.
Step 9: That’s it for the initial sketch! You have the basic Barbie shape. Now go in and tighten your drawing. From this point on, press harder with your pencil in order to get darker lines and a more defined sketch.
Step 10: Draw the shape of Barbie's eyes by using the little footballs as guides. Follow the basic path of the guides but make the outlines thicker. Add a few curved, pointy shapes at the top and bottom of the eyes for Barbie's eyelashes. The top lashes should be bigger than the bottom ones.
Step 11: Inside each eye, draw a circle for the irises. Inside each iris, in the middle, draw another circle and shade it in for the pupils. Draw a tiny circle inside each eye, off to the side, to represent glare. Above the shape of each eye, draw a curved line for Barbie's eyelids.
Step 12: Above each eye, draw a curved line for Barbie's eyebrows. The shape of the eyebrows should be thicker toward the center and thinner toward the sides of the head. They should also angle downward toward the vertical construction line.
Step 13: Barbie's nose can be a bit tricky, so it's divided into two parts. First draw the center of the nose close to the bottom edge of the main circle. This line should be similar in shape to a curved letter V. Draw a couple of tiny ovals on the sides and shade them in for the nostrils.
Step 14: Now add the sides of Barbie's nostrils by drawing short curved lines on the left and right of the shape you just drew. Draw a longer curved line on top for the bridge of Barbie's nose.
Step 15: Barbie's lips are also broken down into two steps. Use the initial D-shape as a guide as you draw them. First draw the top lip by following the basic path of the guide and making the shape thicker. The sides of the top lip should be thinner and end at a point.
Step 16: Add Barbie's bottom lip by darkening the path of the guide. Draw a similar curved line above it as the mouth opening.
Step 17: Darken the initial U-shaped line under the circle to create Barbie's chin and jaw. Don't darken the line above the horizontal construction line because that will be covered by Barbie's hair.
Step 18: Darken the lines under Barbie's head to for the neck and top part of the shoulders. Notice how the neck lines overlap the shoulder lines a bit.
Step 19: Barbie's hair can be a little tricky too, so it's also divide into two parts. Use the initial curved line over the head as a guide to draw the right side of the hair. Darken the right side of the line, but then curve it in toward the forehead and then back out to the right side of the face. It's okay if it overlaps Barbie's eyebrow and ear.
Step 20: Now draw the left side of Barbie's hair by darkening that side of the guide. Add another curved line closer to the face that overlaps the ear for the front part of the hair.
Step 21: You can darken the visible portion of the ear guides for Barbie's ears, or you can draw small circles at the bottom of the guides for earrings.
Step 22: That’s it! You now have a nice sketch of Barbie. You can stop at this quick drawing for a rough, sketchy look, or continue to the step below to go for a more finished look.
Step 23: For a more finished, inked look, carefully draw over the final sketch lines with a pen or marker. Wait for the ink to dry, and then erase all of the pencil marks. You now have a finished inked drawing of Barbie! You can stop here or go to the final step to complete your Barbie drawing in its entirety.
Last Step: For a completely finished Barbie drawing, you have to color it. You can use anything you want: markers, color pencils or even crayons! Barbie is blonde, so color her hair yellow. To make the hair look a little more realistic, add different colors on top of each other. Add brown to the dark areas and light yellow to the lighter sections. If you leave a few sections with just some light color, it will give Barbie's hair some sheen. Color the eyebrows light brown. Her eyes are light blue, and her lips are pink. You can color her earrings whatever color you'd like. Her skin is peach. If you don't have peach, improvise and use yellow-orange or light brown. That’s it! You now have a completed drawing of Barbie.